God-Touched

Interlude: Malif

In which Malif meets an associate and secretly schemes, privily plots, and mysteriously machinates

STEnd of Week 3. The warehouse has been mostly built and furnished; above all your generously sized quarters. Any furnishing request you ran by Alejandro has been approved, paid for, and shipped, allowing you to get up to whatever mysterious machinations your heart desires. Tomorrow you will be flying to Los Angeles (on Alejandro’s dime, of course). In the meantime you have some time between performance and mission to settle in to your new living quarters.

MalifMalif certainly can’t set up anything TOO elaborate without Alejandro seeing it on the request lists, but he does at least bring in an extra storage chest of his own, one with a hidden false bottom, in case he needs to hide any items later on.

STWhatever secret schemes are in the works has to wait… There’s a knock on your door.

MalifThat’s fine, he had no current plans for it anyway. Just wanted to have it in case he needs it later. It is left closed in the back of the room while he answers the door.

STAt first you see Naomi’s face. “Hello—” she begins, but then an older fellow pushes past her, offering his hand. He’s clearly of Native American descent, with black hair and skin nearly the color of terracotta clay. He’s got a long, hooked nose and a glass eye. “Coyote’s son! I’m sorry, you know him as Rabbit. To me he’ll always be Coyote. It’s so good to finally meet you!”

MalifMalif frowns, and glances at Naomi as the man blurts this out. “I’ll be with you in a moment, dear.” He lets the man in then closes the door, then addresses the man. “Do be careful with that information, if you please.”

STThe old man’s good eye twinkles as he grins mischievously. His laugh is reminiscent of some sort of bird’s cackle. “Ah! I do apologize. I’ll be much more covert in the future.” He waves his gnarled, nearly skeletal hand dismissively. “But don’t worry. Naomi loves a good secret. She’s my daughter, after all.” He pauses to give Malif a good look, allowing Malif to get a good look at him. The old man is tall and willowy, wearing black jeans, a button-up shirt, and a black cowboy hat with a single black feather sticking from it. Despite the fact that he’s clearly aged, there’s not a single speck of gray in his hair. “Well, look at you! You look nothing like him. But he talks about you all the time.”

MalifMalif takes this information in, looking the man over. “Hmmm. So you would be…..Raven, I’m guessing? Any family relation to father, perhaps?”

STHe dips the brim of his hat in concession. “We’re all family in this world,” he says. “But me and your father… we’re good friends. Have been ever since we first shared a persimmon.”

MalifMalif smiles. “So Naomi is the Scion of a fellow trickster, is she? Does she know about Coyote, then?”

STRaven’s grin broadens. “Of course! And she knows just who was responsible for the master plan that spared him from Bear.” He winks with his glass eye. “But don’t tell him I told you that. He still thinks it was his idea.”

STHe spreads his hands apologetically. “She does now. I mean, I did kind of blurt it out in front of her.”

MalifMalif smirks. “I meant before that, but yes, quite true. Nobody else knows, though, I’ve been posing as the child of Isis, so they would not mistrust me.” He opens the door again and smiles to Naomi. “TErribly sorry about that!”

STRaven cackles again. “Smart kid!” He pauses in consideration. “It may have also come up when I went to her to ask where to find you.”
As the door opens, Naomi offers a polite smile in return. “Good morning, Mr. Mysterious,” she greets mildly.

ST“Oooh. Mr. Mysterious. I like it!” Raven laughs once more.

MalifMalif ushers her into his room, then closes the door again. “I suppose the Coyote’s out of the bag, huh? It’s a secret to everyone, though, okay? And Mr Raven, please, nobody else should find out.”

STThe old man nods vigorously. “Of course, of course. Naomi?”
She offers a single nod.
Now that they’re side-by-side, it’s very easy to see how they contrast each other. Raven has a kind of restless energy that’s not really nervous but at the same frequency. Naomi, on the other hand, has a very solid and steady presence. It’s clear that either her experience with her father has prepared her well for her relationship with Angela—or perhaps vice versa.

MalifMalif smiles warmly at Naomi, and grins a little. “Always wanted yourself a girl just like dear old dad, I take it?”

STA very small smile breaks on Naomi’s face. “Don’t know about wanting it. That’s just how it happened.”
Raven waves his hand dismissively. “Okay, okay—I’m sorry to say it, but I have to interrupt this pleasure with business. I sought you out for a reason, Malif, and it’s important.”

MalifMalif nods. “Well, I’d have assumed you did. What’s going on?”

ST“I’m worried, Malif. I’m worried because I haven’t heard from your father for a while now.”
“He missed poker night with Mink, Bluejay, and Skeleton Man,” states Naomi mildly. Apparently her father had expressed his concerns earlier.
“He—” Raven stops, shuts his mouth as what he was going to say was already said, then opens his mouth to continue. “Yes, and we’re all very concerned. None of us ever miss poker night, because there’s always free food, tobacco, and pretty women. Well. Free for us at least.”

MalifMalif’s eyes widen. “Well that sounds…. bad. I’m not really sure what I can do against someone that’s a threat to dad, though, but i’ll certainly help. Maybe he just got wrapped up in something?”

ST“Oh, he probably got caught in one of his pranks,” Raven says, pacing about the room. “That happens every so often. Which means I have to swoop in to the rescue.”
“So you’re not very concerned then,” Naomi points out.
“Well… okay, mildly concerned,” concedes Raven. “Besides, I won last night and the money wasn’t nearly as good as it should’ve been.”

MalifMalif smirks. “Well, how can I help, then? Do we have any kinds of leads?”

ST“Ah, good to see Coyote’s son doesn’t shy away from adventure!” Raven grins. “Okay, so. Here’s the deal. I kind of pissed off Spider Woman. I won’t get into any dirty details. But she took one of my eyes.” To punctuate his point he pops out his glass eye. “I can’t see the threads of Fate without both of my eyes, so I can’t find Coyote until I get my eye back.” He pauses. “I’d send Naomi, except Spider Woman knows that she’s my daughter.”

Malif“You ticked off Arachne? Ouch. Please tell me she doesn’t have your eye directly on her person. I’m not sure I can take on a Goddess….”

STRaven does a double-take. “Arachne? Who’s—”
“Arachne is Greek,” says Naomi to Raven. “Spider Woman is Hopi,” she explains to Malif.
“Ah, right. Anyway. I don’t know where she’s put it. I can’t see anything from it because she dropped it in a pouch. But you just need to trick her into giving it to you, and then bring it back to me.”

MalifMalif looks somewhat encouraged by this. Maybe this one wasn’tas powerful as Arachne. Maybe he’d actually survive this after all. “Where do I begin?”

ST“That’s the spirit!” Raven whoops and gives Malif a solid pat on the back. “Okay, so. Here’s the thing about Spider Woman: she’s pretty elusive. Her lair’s in the dream world, but she can’t always be found there. Make no mistake, though, she sees almost everything that goes on there whether she’s at home or not. Chances are she’s keeping my eye somewhere in there.”

Malif“Hmmm, I assume you can send me there, or know someone who can, then? Know anything about her I can use against her as leverage on that pouch?”

STRaven waves his hand dismissively. “Oh, it’s real easy, just fly towards the North Star and take a right just before you hit the horizon.”

Malif" I think I forgot my wings back in I’m Not A Raven boulevard."

STNaomi cracks a small smile.
“Oh. Right.” Raven clears his throat. “Um… then no, I can’t tell you how to get there. But!” He lifts a finger. “You should be able to find a medicine man who can guide you there. I mean, those medicine men are all over the place, so…”

ST“As for Spider Woman… well, she can see almost anything that happens in her lair… when she’s not there. When she is, she’s much easier to fool.”

MalifMalif grins. “I suppose my career has helped prepare me for such. Fate indeed? Well, maybe you can point me towards some local shaman types, help me get started?”

STAgain Raven opens his mouth to speak, considers, then closes it. “No.” He looks at his daughter. “But Naomi might.”
She nods.
“And, hey! She might even be able to help you trick Spider Woman!”
To that Naomi doesn’t respond, either verbally or non-verbally.

MalifMalif smiles at Naomi. “Oh? Well you can’t come along to the dream realm it seems, but if you have some way to prepare me, I’m all ears.”

ST“Great! I’ll let you two kids work it out,” says Raven. “Just let the eye out of the bag once you get it. I’ll see you and then head right on over.”

Malif“Right then. Shall we?” Malif holds his arm out in that manner gentlemen do when offering to let a lady hold when walking together.

STShe is silent for several moments, looking around the room. After that she roams the room, keeping an eye out for something. Then she turns back to Malif, reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small pouch in a worn leather bag, bunched at the top by leather lacing. “His eye is in here. He wants you to steal one of Spider Woman’s eyes for him.” She gives Malif a small smile. “He gave it to me so that he could trick you.”

MalifMalif chuckles. “I knew there was an angle to this I wasn’t being told.”

Malif“I’m not sure I’ll be able to pluck one of her own eyes out of her face though! She might object.”

ST“Oh, she takes her eyes out during the daytime and sets them aside when she sleeps. She’s old and they get tired from the delicate weaving she does all day.” Naomi pauses. “I think he was telling the truth about Coyote, though. Otherwise he’d be trying to trick Coyote into getting the eye for him, not you.”

Malif“Yeah, definitely still need to go. So I should go during the day, and creep in while she sleeps, eh?”

STNaomi’s small smile grows broader, more mischievous. “You can. Or you can tell her what my father’s planning.” She grows a little more solemn. “In the meantime, I think I can find where Coyote is by using Father’s eye.”

MalifMalif looks curious. “How can you find him with the eye? Hmm, and I’m not sure I’d like your father angry with me…..then again, he IS a bit of a prank-nemesis to my own dad, isn’t he….”

ST“Father is right about being able to see the threads of Fate. I’ll talk to the medicine man about the rituals involved.” She smiles once more. “Don’t worry about making him angry. He loves a good trick, even when he’s the butt of it.”

MalifMalif chuckles. "Well then. It IS my job to fool people,after all. They even pay me for it! "

STNaomi nods and puts the pouch back in her pocket. “When you’re in LA, then, I’ll head to my hometown and speak to Johnny Two Feathers about getting you to Spider Woman’s lair and finding Coyote.”

Malif“Oh, you mean we aren’t going now?”

STShe shakes her head. “I’m helping Lisa teach today in,” she pauses to check her phone, “a little over an hour, and my hometown is a three-hour trip one-way on a good day.”